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Strawbereye: medieval english strawberry pudding
(printout version of recipe July/August 2003, Introduction to recipe with illustrations)

Strawberry pudding.

Ingredients:

120 gram (1 cup) ground almonds
250 to 300 cc (1 to 1 1/4 cup) water
250 gram (1 2/3 cup) strawberries (preferebly wild strawberries)
1 deciliter (1/2 cup) red wine
3 Tbsp. riceflour, or cornflour
75 gram (1/3 cup) sugar
pepper, ginger, cinnamon and galingale to taste
1 Tbsp. suet or butter
1/2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
50 gram (1/2 cup) currants
2 tsp. grains of pomegranate
some red food colouring (optional)

Preparation in advance: Make almond milk. Steep the ground almonds in 250 to 300 cc hot water, then strain them through a cloth. To obtain more milk you can squeeze the cloth gently. You should get about 200 cc almond milk.
Clean the strawberries
: Hull the strawberries, then rinse them shortly under cold running water, then steep them for 15 minutes in red wine. Discard the wine or try drinking it (after straining it through a fine cloth or paper kitchen towels). It is not bad.

Preparation: Puree the strawberries.
Make the pudding
. Put the strawberry pulp in a skillet with the almond milk, rice flour, sugar and spices. Bring to the boil, let simmer for a couple of minutes. Pull it off the fire when the mixture starts to bind. Add butter or suet, then vinegar and currants. The pudding is probably very pink, but if you like it even "pinker", add some red food colouring. If you think the pudding is not stiff enough you can add some cornflour mixed with a little water. Pour the pudding in a large bowl or in small individual bowls.

To serve: Sprinkle just before serving with the seeds of pomegranate. When using dried seeds (which is what the medieval English cook probably did anyway), steep them a couple of minutes in hot water (you can also steep them first, and use the red water for the almond milk).
Serve the pudding at room temperature, or slightly chilled.

Variation: You could use this pudding as stuffing in a fruitpie. Bake one large sweet pastryshell or a number of small ones, and pour the strawberry pudding in. Let it cool, garnish with slices of fresh strawberries and pomegranate seeds.

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This page was last updated on 23-07-09 (d-m-y).